Game



May 14, 1929- H. LSTICKNEY 1,713,455

` GAME Filed Oct. 3, 1927 Patented May 14, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY LADD STICKNEY, OF MANCESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

GAME.

Application led October 3, 1927. Serial No. 223,555.

5 The principal objects of the invention areV to provide an interesting game played in imitatlon of some action that takesv place in real life, particularly military operations, to provide a board which will representa field on 10 'which such an action takes place and to provide means whereby the game pieces are employed in such a manner as to imitate the actions of men, armies, shi s or other objects as they take place in real li e.

Although the objects of the invention have been stated broadly above, it is intended to be used mainly as a military game. Means is y provided whereb the different services are distinguished and7 the actions of the units of the different services are imitated, as well as may be.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter. Y

Reference is to be had tothe accompanying rawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan of a board arranged in accordance with this invention, and

Fig. 2 is a collective view-of various game pieces which can be employed in connection therewith, each one representing a branch of the service. 2

The board 101s formedof two flatv pieces connected together b a hinge 11 across the center so that the boar can be folded up ifl that is desired. The two sides of the board, on oppositesides of the center line or hinge 11 are exactly alike. -On each sidethere are indicated a series of stations 12 suitably spaced apart, and. preferably arranged symmetrically. These are connected by what may b e consideredhorizontal and vertical lanes 13, that is lines running transversely land longitudinally and'also by certain dia onal'lanes 14, as ,ndicatingthe way in whic thegame pieces move. At the beginning of the ame the various stations 12 may be occupie in vari- -ous ways, but in the particular game illusalternati trated, the rear line is shown as to be occupled by certain game pieces representing different services, as indicated by the names and 5o abbreviations on the drawing. The second line is indicated as occupied by Infantry and Marines, and the third line by certain other services as will be obvious.

Along the lanes of advance I have shown l a series of obstacles as for exam le, Rivers 15, Cliffs 16, Woods 17 and No ans Land 18. No 'Mans Land is located at either side o f the center line ll'and, as will appear,'the rules are somewhat; different for this section. I have shown wooden bridges 19 at certain points, dug outs 20, hospital 21 and first line trenches 22. l

It will be seen that the lanes 13 radiate from the stations 12 and extend longitudinal- 65 ly and laterally from the stations but from others there'are additional diagonal lanes 14 as previously stated.

Each game'piece comprises a base 23 and a guidon or flag 24 provided with suitable in- 70 signin to indicate the service to which it relates. The various insignia are indicated in various parts of Fi 2. All of them are labeled therein and t e`r original places are indicated on the board in Fi 1. Therefore, no further description need e given.

The game, played according to this invention andinaccordance with the illustration of it in the drawing, involves two armies facing'each other on opposite sides of No Mans 30 Land, each piece belng located at the station indicated in Fig. 1.4 TheCommanding General (GG.) is vsupposedto direct his forces, each side moving, and one piece at a time, in

on. Each Commandin General en- 35 deavors to occupy the base position of the opposing Commanding General or to so direct his forces that theopposing Commanding v General will be surrounded and unable. to move-in any direction. When either of these 00 conditions occurs the combat ends but'tlte winner is determined by a scoring system and also 4the amount of his advantage over the opponent.

The casualties are determined at the end of comparative importance of the pieces in makthe combat by means of afscore table as fol- -lows:

v Score fable. objective teken 10o Capturing Commanding General 50 Pieces in Base Hospital 25 each All other pieces captured each The final score is determined only after 10 the casualties of the victorious army have ing an exchange:

Machine Gun or Cavalry Engineer or Chemical Warfare Service Air *Service or Artillery 4 Of course it will be obvious that different branches of the service in actual operation have different methods of movement and different restrictions upon their movements.

For that reason I prefer to employ the fol-l lowing key to the maneuvers of the various services.

K ey to maneuvers.

1 MAY IMPASSABLE GUIDONS MOVES CAPTURE MAY BE CAP'IURED vOBSTACLES INTELLIGENCE. Forward, diagonally or horizontally. Intelligence I and By any piece except Com- NONE one station at a time. May retreat Courier only. manding General. same order.

COURIER SAME AS INTELLIGENCE IN ALL PARTICULARS INFANTRY Forward or horizontally, one station at Any piece except By any piece except Intelli- CLIFFS a time but never backward. Air Service. gence, Courier and Com- RIVERS manding General.

MARINE SAME AS IN-FANTRY IN ALL PARTICULA-RS MACHINE GUN Forward, and horizontally, or horizontal Any except Air By any piece except Intelli- CLIFFS and forward, same move. In other Service. gence, Courier and Comwords, complete a right angle or half manding General. a square one move. May retreat same order.

ENGINEER Forward or diagonally. May retreat Any except Air By any piece except Intelli- NONE A same order. One station at a time. Service. gence, COIHGI O1' C0111 manding General.

AIR'SERVICE Any continuous direction unoccupied. Any piece ,-By none except Air Service NONE In making an advantageous capture and Artillery.

may elect to pass over one piece only.

ARTILLERY Forward or horizontally as many sta- Any piece By any piece except Intelli- NONE tions as unoccupied or may elect to gence, Courier and Compass over one piece in making advanmanding General.' tageous capture.

CHEMICAL WAR- Diagonallyasmany stations at one move Any piece except By any piece except Intelli- NONE FARE SERVICE. as unoccupied. May retreat same Air Service. gence, Courier and Coniorder. manding General.

CAVA-LEY Forward or diagonally. One Station at Any piece except By any piece 'except Intelli- NONE a time. May retreat saine order. Air Service. gence, Courier and Cornmanding General.

COMMANDING Forward or horizontally, one Station at None None but may be blocked or WOODS GENERAL. atime. May exchange positions with y surrounded. OLIFFS any piece by one move. May retreat same order.

Thel 'following rules of combat can be employed: I v

Rules of combat.

l. Commanding General has no power of capture and should always be warned when in danger of capture by using word attacked so he may retreat to his base position or elect to defend himself by exchanging positions with any of his combatant forces. (Intelligence and Courier not included.)

2. Headquarters (Commanding General) Engineers, Air Service,

' Trenches, furthermore,

uate to some other station at the earliest moment or be subject to. penalty in nsonance with Rules #4 and 5.

. 4. Intelligence, Courier, Infantry and Marines, when captured, are removed permanently from Field and muy not be returned to combat. y

5. (a2. Machine Gun, Air Service, En neers, rtillery, Chemical Warfare Service and Cavalry, when captured within their own lines are immediately evacuated to their own base hospital, and may elect to re-enter Field at its original designated base position if unoccupied or whenever unoccupied. Re-entering move. I

(b). When the above named combatants are captured on the Enem s Field, they are evacuated to the Enemys ase Hospital and may not be returned to Field of combat except by an exchange of prisoners in accordance with terms of exchange shown elsewhere..

(c). Such an exchange, if possible, should be promptly made at the time of capture if designated base position is unoccupied and this may be accomplished without constituting a move on the part of either combatant.

(d). If position 1s occupied at time of exchange, he may be evacuated to this own Base Hospital vwhen he may re-enter the Field later at his option, which in itself constitutes one move.

6. All pieces, whether given power of moving one or more stations ata time, must -at all times come to a halt at First Line in passing through No Mans Land, they sh'ould again comel to a halt in Enemys First Line Trenches.

7. Any piece going Over the Top may move across No Mans Land only in accordance with prescribed maneuvers laid down for that particular piece. A

8. Infantry and Marines only, are safe from capture when occupying position in Dugouts.

9. Player may not touch any piece except to move it,1under penalty of. bein removed from the Field in accordance with ules #1, 4 and 5.

10. (a). Should Infantry or Marines, uncaptured, reach any of the enemies-base ositions originally occupied by Machine un, Artillery, Chemical Warfare Service, or Cavalry, they should immediately evacuate, this without constituting amove. Y

(b)'f Credit, however, for'such advancement should be given its own forces in accordance with the score table shown elsewhere.-

11. Air Service and Artillery ma elect to pass over one piece only, either o own or enemys forces in making advantageous capture, but may move 'only' in a continuous direction at all other times.

12. Any dispute which may anse with refrom own Base Hospital constitutes one vto interest of the fact erence to maneuvers, captures, exchan e of prisoners, or interpretation of Rule of omat, may be mutually referred to any disinterested person whose ruling shall be final.

In playing the game each lplayer places the game pieces on his side of the board in the manner indicated by the several designations at the stations 12 in the three rear lines. At the toss, one player has the first move of course. He moves any one of his pieces forward or sideways in accordance with the above rules governing that piece. Then the other player has a chance to play, the moves taking lace similarly to the game of Chess.

Alltllfe rules above mentioned must be observed and the obstacles such as Rivers, Cliffs and Woods cannot be passed by certain services. The lines of advance in which these obstacles are located'are closed to the particular services which, accordin to the rules, are obstructed by them. Also t e dugouts cause certain restrictions, as indicated above b the rules, and the first line trenches at both sides of No Mans Land halt all advance for any particular move. The playing continues alternately by the two sides, each player exercising his ingenuity and skill, restricted onl by the rules of the me.

inally the game.coses when one Commanding General or the other is surrounded or unable to move in any direction, or when one Commanding General succeeds in occupying the base position of the opposing Commanding General. Then the combat ends. The winner is determined, however, by 'the score table as given above. Therefore, it is not merely a matter of winning the game but the game is won or lost by a definite number of oints.

It will be seen from what is said that a very interestin game can be played in this way and that te maneuvers of an army can be imitated with some degree of accuracy, sufficient people who have knowledge of military' maneuvers and also they are ar-v ranged in such simplicity as to interest the general public.

It is to be understood that although I have illustrated and described the playing of a particular militarv gaine the ,invention is not restricted to that game or anyemilitary gaine, as'the same principle can usedk to represent a naval combat or even t .out-

side the military fields altogether, as or example, football or commerce, and in fact anythin that can be imitated on a game board.

Athou h I have illustrated and described only one orm of the invention I am aware ythat other modifications can made therein by any person skilled in the art without departing from the scopeof the invention as expressed in the claims.` Therefore, I do not wishto be limited in these re spects, but what I claim is 1. As an ofmanufacture, a gama board formed in symmetrical parts, each one having a series of stations represented thereon and spaced apart and lines from said stations to indicate possible movements from one to another, said game board having obstacles represented thereon in said lines to indicate that game pieces representing certain services cannot pass them but that others can, said lines furnishing other paths by which the restricted game pieces can get around the obstructions.

2. In a game, a game board having two symmetrical halves, each half being provided with stations spaced apart thereon, and game pieces placed in predetermined relation to each other at certain of said stations at the o start of the game, the game board having movements-of the game pieces are restricted l in a different manner from their movements outside of this area, said gaine board having obstacles represcnted'thereon in said path of travel to indicate that gaine pieces representing certain services cannot pass them, but that others can, said paths furnishing other 'courses by which the restricted game pieces can get around the 'obstructions In testimony whereof' I have hereunto affixed my signature.

HENRY LADD STICKNEY. 

